Motor City Hypnotist

Send us Fan Mail Anger can show up in an instant, but the damage can last for days, years, or an entire relationship. We pick up our conversation on intermittent explosive disorder (IED) with the part people crave most: how recovery works when it feels like your reactions are faster than your thinking. We get practical about what “taking back control” really means, starting with neuroplasticity, t...

Send us Fan Mail Defiance can look like disrespect, but up close it often looks like a teen who is flooded, stuck, and missing a few key skills. We wrap up our oppositional defiant disorder series by getting very practical about what helps and what makes things worse. If your home feels like it’s stuck in a loop of blowups, cooldowns, and broken promises, we talk through the exact patterns that ke...

Send us Fan Mail Teen defiance can be loud, relentless, and personal, especially when oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is in the mix. We pick up our ODD series with a clear focus on adolescence and family dynamics, because the teen years add jet fuel to conflict: independence seeking, emotional intensity, identity formation, and a hair-trigger sensitivity to authority. When a teen already strug...

Send us Fan Mail Defiance can look like disrespect, but what if it is really stress, shame, and a nervous system that cannot downshift? We pick up our series on oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) with a clear, parent-friendly breakdown of what ODD is, how common it is, and why it is most often diagnosed in kids and teens. We also talk through why the label gets missed or brushed off, even though...

Send us Fan Mail Defiance gets blamed on attitude, laziness, or “bad parenting,” but what if the real issue is a nervous system that can’t calm down fast enough? We dig into oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) in a clear, practical way, breaking down what the diagnosis actually means and why it’s so often misunderstood. If you’ve ever watched a child or teen go from fine to furious in seconds, thi...

Send us Fan Mail Star Wars is fun, but the Force hits harder when you treat it like a map of your own mind. On May the Fourth, we go beyond fandom and use the Jedi and Sith as two competing philosophies of how to live with emotion, power, fear, and desire. If you have ever tried to “stay positive” while feeling something darker underneath, this conversation gives you a clearer way to think about w...

Send us Fan Mail May the Fourth is a fun excuse to talk Star Wars, but we take a sharper turn: what if “the Force” is really a map of the human mind? We use the language of Jedi and Sith to explore themes we see every day in therapy and hypnosis work: emotional regulation, inner conflict, fear, connection, and the constant push to feel in control while still staying human. We unpack the Force as a...

Send us Fan Mail Autism is one of those words that everyone thinks they understand until you start talking about how it actually feels day to day. We get into the lived reality of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including why sensory overload can turn ordinary sounds, lights, and textures into a wall of stress, and why that constant friction can feed anxiety, depression, and even OCD-like patterns...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of adults walk around with the same quiet question: why do certain sounds, textures, routines, or social moments hit me so much harder than everyone else? We get that question constantly, so we finally sat down to talk about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in plain language and with real-life examples, including the stuff people rarely say out loud like how one small change i...

Send us Fan Mail A mental health label can be a lifeline, or it can quietly become a cage. We get real about what mental health trends and statistics actually mean once they hit the therapy room, especially when someone walks in convinced a diagnosis from 20 years ago still defines them today. Matt Fox joins me as we talk about why diagnoses should be based on symptom patterns, duration, and daily...

Send us Fan Mail One in five US adults is living with a mental illness, and the odds are high that someone in your family, workplace, or friend group is quietly carrying it. We take a hard look at mental health trends in 2026, including what the latest stats say about anxiety disorders, depression, PTSD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, and more, plus the gut-punch reality that depression rates have surged...

Send us Fan Mail A tiny comment can hit like a gut punch, and the worst part is how easy it is to doubt yourself afterward. We pick up Microaggressions Part Two by focusing on the person on the receiving end: what you feel, what your nervous system does in real time, and how to respond in a way that protects your dignity without turning every moment into a fight. We break down the stress response...

Send us Fan Mail A compliment that makes your stomach drop is still a problem, even if the speaker “meant well.” We unpack microaggressions, those subtle comments and behaviors that communicate bias, and we explain why they’re called micro even though the impact can be anything but small. Along the way, we give real examples you’ve heard at work, in public, and online, like “you’re so articulate,”...

Send us Fan Mail Some Olympic controversies are loud for a week. Others echo for decades and make you question the whole idea of “the best athlete wins.” We sit down with pizza and a drink and build a Top 10 list of controversial United States Olympic moments, counting down the stories that still spark arguments at bars, in comment sections, and in living rooms during every Games. We hit the headl...

Send us Fan Mail The Olympic moments we never forget are rarely just about the score. They are about nerves, timing, pressure, and the weird way one perfect run or one impossible upset can turn into a lifelong memory you can replay on demand. We’re back with one of our favorite formats: a Top 10 countdown of the most iconic U.S. Olympic moments in history. We go sport by sport and era by era, from...

Send us Fan Mail Loneliness doesn’t always look like being alone. Sometimes it looks like scrolling, posting, and still feeling invisible. We get real about the loneliness epidemic and the traps that make it worse, especially the way social media trains us to crave quick validation while offering very little true connection. We also share a mindset shift that helps immediately: online interaction...

Send us Fan Mail Loneliness can be brutal because it doesn’t always look like isolation. You can have a relationship, coworkers, family dinners, even hundreds of social media friends and still feel that hollow disconnect that nobody really sees you. We get honest about why that happens, why it’s becoming more common, and what your brain is actually doing when you start pulling away from people. We...

Send us Fan Mail Anxiety can feel like an engine stuck at redline—your thoughts race, your chest tightens, and logic gets drowned out by adrenaline. We’re breaking down what actually helps. From fast-acting benzodiazepines for crisis moments to long-term SSRIs that lower your baseline anxiety, we talk about what these medications do in the brain, how they differ, and why the right plan can mean re...

Send us Fan Mail Anxiety can feel like a siren that never shuts off—racing heart, shaky hands, spinning thoughts. We break down the tools that can turn down the noise, from fast-acting benzodiazepines to longer-term SSRIs and SNRIs, and we get real about benefits, risks, and how to use meds without letting them use you. You’ll hear why benzos act like a fire extinguisher in a panic, how SSRIs and...

Send us Fan Mail What if the real power of antidepressants isn’t euphoria, but a clearer runway to heal? We close our four-part series by getting practical about how medication fits into a full recovery plan—and why stability, not shortcuts, is the win that unlocks change. We dig into the biggest myths first: no, antidepressants don’t “change who you are,” and no, taking them isn’t a failure. They...

Send us Fan Mail Feeling better shouldn’t feel like a mystery. We dig into the real mechanics of antidepressants—how SSRIs, SNRIs, TCAs, MAOIs, and atypicals shift brain chemistry over time—and why the two-to-six week window makes sense once you see how stabilization actually works. Along the way, we unpack the biggest myths: no, these meds don’t rewrite your personality, and no, they don’t create...

Send us Fan Mail A four-hour swim through rough seas sets the tone for resilience, and we channel that grit into a clear-eyed tour of antidepressants that actually help people get their lives back. We pick up our series on depression treatment with a practical, plain-English guide to SSRIs, SNRIs, TCAs, MAOIs, and atypicals—how each class works on serotonin, norepinephrine, or dopamine, what side...

Send us Fan Mail Ever been told “antidepressants change your personality” or “you’ll be on them forever”? We’re cutting through the noise with a clear, grounded tour of how modern antidepressants work, why they were discovered by accident, and what real people should know before starting, switching, or stopping. We share the surprising roots of MAOIs and tricyclics, how SSRIs became mainstream, an...

Send us Fan Mail What if one small shift could turn tense conversations into genuine understanding? We dive into emotional intelligence part two and move from the inside out—starting with self-awareness and landing on practical empathy you can use today at home, at work, and online. We break down the difference between empathy and agreement, why limitless empathy leads to burnout, and how “listeni...

Send us Fan Mail Ever say the right thing in the worst way? We tackle emotional intelligence with practical tools you can use today to recognize what you feel, regulate your reactions, and connect without losing your cool. David R. Wright, the Motor City Hypnotist, breaks EI down to essentials—self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social skills—and shows how they play out at home, at work,...